India’s Journey at the Asia Cup : Expectations & Preview

The third match for India in this ongoing Asia cup in Mirpur, Bangladesh, is starting in a few minutes. The Hot Favourite of the tournament, this match against Sri Lanka should be a cakewalk for the men in blue.

Here we look at how India performed in the previous couple of matches and how their match today is going to be:

24 Feb, Wednesday

India Vs Bangladesh

Looking at the performance of the Hosts on their Home ground, everyone predicted that though India would enter the grounds as a favourite, the energetic and full of confidence Bangladesh would give a tough competition. As it turned out, Bangladesh did give India some early blows. Struggling at 50 for 3 in the 9th over, Rohit Sarma built a steady but must needed partnership with Yuvraj Singh. What happened next was extraordinary. Dhoni sent young lad Hardik Pandya ahead of him. Pandya, along with Rohit Sarma, shifted the gear directly from 2nd to 5th, a half century partnership between them under 4 overs helped India to put an above par score of 166 [Rohit Sharma 83(55), Hardik Pandya 31(18)]. Bangladesh was not able to cope with the scores and thus ended their Inning in just 121/7.

27 Feb, Saturday

India Vs Pakistan

On a Saturday evening, when everyone wad leisurely spending their time at home, what could be better than a match between India and Pakistan? The excitement was built. Everyone could feel it. As it turned out to be, India won the match by 5 wickets. The score card might say that it was a comfortable win for India, but it wasn’t that easy. Indian bowler did well to bundle out Pakistan for just 83. None of the Pakistani Batsman was able to achieve a good partnership and played unnecessary shots. The Indian fans were elated, they thought that it was going to be a cakewalk for our players but they were wrong. Pakistan came out fiercely as Mohammad Amir wrecked havoc, removing India’s top order inside in the first 3 overs. But Kohli played one of his finest and mature knock out and took it away from Pakistan. Yuvraj, though failed to time the ball, gave crucial support to Kohli. Once the movement vanished, Indian Batsman felt at ease and chased down the target in 15.3 overs.

Match preview

Today at 7 PM IST

India Vs Sri Lanka

The pitch condition and injuries are the prime concerns for both the Teams. While India is likely to miss the service of Rohit Sarma and Shikhar Dhawan, and Sri Lanka will miss out the skipper Malinga.

India needs just another win to put up at the top position in the final. While the form isn’t a concern for the men in blue, they will just have to maintain their form, while ensuring that none of the players get further injuries, as the big tournament is only a doorstep away. For Sri Lanka, this is a must win game. They will now have to defeat both India and Pakistan to qualify for the final. But looking at the heavy defeat in the Bilateral tournament against India last month, their chances of qualifying are almost unlikely.